Hello World! Welcome Friends! There was a time when European adventurers and explorers took frequent trips to the continent known as Africa. It was during these visits that they started bringing various kinds of souvenirs which were then regarded as strange items that had no place in art museums. This went on for centuries.
People from that era were unfortunately so ignorant about these precious pieces of “curiosities” that all these artifacts ended up on the dusty shelves of natural history museums where they never received any proper valuation or appreciation.
So what changed? African art is part and parcel of many modern art exhibitions these days. Museums nowadays showcasing African art receive an astonishing number of visitors, something which was deemed impossible back in the day. The purpose of this article is to discuss how the modern art scenario finally changed and started accepting African art wholeheartedly.
Henri Matisse and African Art
Henri Matisse, originally from France, was one of the most influential artists of the 20th century. He specialized in painting, draftsmanship, printmaking, and sculpting. Due to the numerous traveling that he did, his work was influenced by different cultures around the world – Africa being one of the key ones among them.
After studying African Art and getting inspired by it, he visited Algeria in 1906. Soon after, his followers started to witness distinct African techniques and styles in the form of fabrics and masks. In fact, it was during this time he met his lifelong friend Pablo Picasso who also started to write his own tale in the history books.
Many of the legendary works of Matisse show elaborate signs of African influence in the form of aesthetics. He owned an African mask that he took as a reference while creating a painting of his daughter in 1907. The painting that he made of his wife also showed certain tonal and structural features that are mostly seen on African masks. The Madame Matisse, as it was called by Henri Matisse, had arched eyebrows and a specific curvature on the mouth that resembled the features seen on the Mask of Sira Punu.
The “Red Interior still life on a blue table” designed by Matisse in 1942 also showed bold African attributes. A particular pattern, geometric in nature, was seen in this piece of art that closely resembled the Kuba cloth, which was a special handwoven fabric crafted by the Kuba people of Congo.
The fact that such an influential artist like Henri Matisse did many of his notable works based on African art, strongly influenced others in that generation to follow suit which led to the gradual emergence of such art forms in the modern era.
Pablo Picasso and African Art
Pablo Picasso was a Spanish painter, printmaker, sculptor, theater designer, and ceramicist. He was one of the key contributors in the inception of African art in modern artworks. The period of his influence in this sector did not last very long, but the impact it left lasted for generations. This duration of time is also known as primitivism or the Proto-Cubist period, and it stretched from 1907 to 1909.
At the age of 24, Pablo Picasso visited the ethnographic museum at Palais du Trocadéro where he experienced African art for the very first time, and was so influenced by it that he considered this a revelation. He began exploring this form of art and dug deeper into it as time went by. The African sculptures and masks deeply moved Picasso and made him realize their true value.
In 1907, he created the pioneering painting known as Les Demoiselles d’Avignon that showcased five unclothed courtesans. The painting was out of his style and he generally focused on his Blue and Rose artworks most of his life till then. It was a form of announcement to the world that he had shifted his focus to African art. Even here, mask-like features were seen that were incredibly similar to African masks in terms of design and aesthetics. The Les Demoiselles d’Avignon was one of the key factors behind the rise of the Cubist movement.
Picasso’s style involved an assortment of earthy tones that involved the overlaying of yellows and browns, with subtle hints of dark reds in places. Some of his other notable works were heavily influenced by African art including the Portrait of Gertrude Stein in 1906, the Nude with Raised Arms in 1907, the Three Women in 1908, and the Dryad, also in 1908.
The Cubist Movement, Modern Art Movement, and African Art
The Cubist movement was initiated in 1907 and was guided by Pablo Picasso and the French painter Georges Braque. The fundamental thought behind this movement was to explore art from a geometric viewpoint and to redefine the perspective of creating and witnessing art as a whole. The style tried to showcase subjects from a different angle so that the mind paints the picture instead of the eyes simply witnessing one.
Soon after the induction of African art in modern culture, ardent Cubists who always tried to break away from traditional artworks finally found emotional relief and a platform to work on. They welcomed this new era of art with open arms, which further solidified the inclusion of African designs in modern paintings and sculptures.
Braque believed starting to work with African art was a new beginning for him. He once said “(African masks are) a new horizon for me. They made it possible for me to make contact with instinctive things, with an uninhibited feeling that went against the false tradition which I hated.” He painted the Large Nude in 1908 completely based on ideas from the works of Picasso and Cubism in general.
Final Words
The fact that such fabled and iconic artists dedicated significant portions of their lives to integrate African styles into modern art speaks volumes. Nowadays, a lot of residential paintings represent such art forms and the integration of African art is considered normal. However, as described in this article, this was not the case back in the day. The emergence was gradual but permanent. The whole world has now accepted this transition with open arms.
Click the links below for any posts you have missed:
Bring More Natural Light Into Your Home
The Differences Between Organic Cotton and Regular Cotton
How To Deal With Grief: 5 Tips
Financial Advice for a Big Purchase
I’d love for you to join my email list! You’ll receive a notification straight to your inbox which will include links to my latest home project posts! Simply enter your address below.
Thanks for stopping by! Have a wonderful day/night depending on where you are in the world! Go with God and remember to be kind to one another!
Toodles,
[…] The Influence of African Art In Modern Art […]